I harvest you, though you’ve no grain, I reap you in the wind and rain, You bleed not but your soft meat And nectar makes a sweetest treat. What am I?
A clam or oyster. You harvest clams or oysters on the beach or go diving, and the beach is often windy and rainy. Neither bleeds but are known for having, soft, slimy meat, and people often drink the “clam nectar” or “oyster juice”.
A princess is as old as the prince will be when the princess is twice the age that the prince was when the princess’s age was half the sum of their present ages.
This one took a while to figure out and there are numerous valid ways of finding the answer.
Here is the solution I came up with
I created the following table from the riddle:
Current
Future
Past
Princess
x
2z
(x+y)/2
Prince
y
x
z
I then created three equations, since the difference in their age will always be the same. d = the difference in ages x – y = d 2z – x = d x/2 + y/2 – z = d
I then created a matrix and solved it using row reduction.
x
y
z
1
-1
0
d
-1
0
2
d
.5
.5
-1
d
It reduced to:
x
y
z
1
0
0
4d
0
1
0
3d
0
0
1
5d/2
This means that you can pick any difference you want (an even one presumably because you want integer ages). Princess age: 4d Prince age: 3d
Ages that work
Princess
Prince
4
3
8
6
16
12
24
18
32
24
40
30
48
36
56
42
64
48
72
54
80
60
To see other solutions check out the comments from when I posted this on my blog.
During lunch hour a group of boys from Mr. Bryant’s homeroom visited a nearby grocery store. One of the five took an apple.
Jim said, “It was Hank or Tom”. Hank said, “Neither Eddie nor I did it.” Tom said, “Both of you are lying.” Don said, “No, one of them is lying, the other is speaking the truth.” Eddie said, “No, Don, that is not true.” When Mr. Bryant was consulted, he said, “Three of these boys are always truthful but two will lie every time.”
Tom took the apple Jim was telling the truth Hank was telling the truth Tom was lying Don was lying Eddie was telling the truth (three telling the truth and two lying)
I hide in the daylight but prefer the sun, I have no fingers but can hold a gun, I have three eyes but cannot see, I live on land but in a tree, I’m spotted in pink and cannot grow, When you look away is when I show.